| Another absurd anti-Israel report from HRW submitted to the UNnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown), 31 Mar 04:45 AM Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch | | Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch submitted a memorandum to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities about the problems of Palestinians with disabilities.
Not surprisingly, it places most of the blame for Palestinian leaders not adhering to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on - Israel.
Here is a section about how Israel restricts movement in and out of Gaza: Human Rights Watch found that sweeping Israeli restrictions on the movement of people and goods, at times exacerbated by restrictive policies by Palestinian authorities, curb access to assistive devices, health care, and electricity essential to many people with disabilities. For more than 15 years, Israeli authorities have blocked most of Gaza's population from traveling through the Erez Crossing, the only passenger crossing from Gaza into Israel through which Palestinians can travel to the West Bank and abroad. Israeli authorities often justify the closure, which came after Hamas seized political control over Gaza from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in June 2007, on security grounds. The closure policy, though, is not based on an individualized assessment of security risk; a generalized travel ban applies to all, except those whom Israeli authorities deem as presenting "exceptional humanitarian circumstances," mostly people needing vital...Read More |
From Ian: Passover 2002: A Tale of Two Massacres The Use & Misuse of the Term "Massacre" Today The term "massacre" is a powerful rhetorical tool, conjuring up feelings of moral disgust and revulsion in the face of wanton cruelty and depravity. Thus, when Israel referred to the Park Hotel suicide bombing as the "Passover Massacre," it was not only an appropriate designation but also meant to convey the enormity of the attack's cruelty and monstrosity. Similarly, when the Palestinians falsely claimed that a massacre had taken place in Jenin, this was intended to not only besmirch the Jewish state but also to provoke a visceral emotional reaction against Israel and in support of the Palestinians. Over the past 20 years, there have been a number of similar cases where the word "massacre" is thrown around so as to provoke an emotional reaction against Israel and its actions, even when the incident in question does not qualify as a massacre. This includes Al Jazeera's use of the term "Passover Massacre" to refer to the killing of violent rioters along the Israel-Gaza border in March 2018, the claim of a second "Jenin Massacre" during clashes between the IDF and Palestinian gunmen in January 2023 and the allegations of a massacre in Nablus during clashes between the IDF and Palestinian gunmen at that time. When the word "massacre" is used haphazardly in order to make a political point rather than...Read More |
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Back in 2009, I (very quickly) wrote a Zionist Haggadah.
It is a complete, traditional Haggadah, with added commentary based on religious Zionist divrei Torah I found online.
The theme is simple. The Haggadah tells a story of the Jewish people moving from slavery to freedom. This is also the story of modern Israel.
Passover is as Zionist a holiday as one can imagine - the beginning of freedom for the Jewish people. And freedom is not complete without having a physical land where people can be authentically and wholeheartedly Jewish.
The main part of the Haggadah starts with הָשַּׁתָּא הָכָא, לְשָׁנָה הַבָּאָה בְּאַרְעָא דְיִשְׂרָאֵל - Now we are here, next year we will be in the Land of Israel.
The penultimate praise of Dayenu thanks God for bringing us to the Land of Israel, הִכְנִיסָנוּ לְאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל.
The end of the Seder includes בְּקָרוֹב נַהֵל נִטְעֵי כַנָּה פְּדוּיִם לְצִיּוֹן בְּרִנָּה, "Bring close, lead the plantings of the sapling, redeemed, to Zion in joy," followed by the celebratory "Next Year in Jerusalem."
Anti-Zionists have been trying to hijack Judaism (and the Passover seder itself!) to justify their hate and attract disenfranchised Jews. They don't want them to experience the real thing. The real Judaism is authentic and rooted in the Land of Israel - not in celebrating "diasporism" as a core Jewish value.
This is the real thing.
Every year I plan to update this Haggadah so I can publish a print edition, but I never get around to it. This version uses...Read More |
Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory. Check out their Facebook page. Tel Aviv, March 30 - Weeks of protests against the Israeli government's proposal to overhaul the country's judicial system have left their neighbors baffled, especially the ones under the rule of Fatah and Hamas, with specific lack of comprehension regarding the absence or near-absence of violence at the numerous well-attended rallies. Palestinians across the political and demographic spectrum voiced their bewilderment today after repeated, vehement demonstrations against the proposal resulted yesterday in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announcing the postponement of the process until at least June, with negotiations to take place in the interim over what changes, if any, to make to the plan. The lack of vehicular assaults, stabbings, Molotov cocktails, shootings, firebomb balloons, stones, bricks, and other features of Palestinian protests has left that group wondering how the Israeli protesters managed to achieve results without resorting to any of those familiar tactics. "Am I missing something?" wondered Nimr Halabi of Nablus. "With no violent unrest, there's no hope for change. That's just how I know it works. Our entire society is based on that assumption. So I think what's really happening is either it's all a big show and it's all fake, with the Jews manipulating everyone into...Read More |
This cartoon was in Hamas' Felesteen: The caption is "Occupation violations of Al Aqsa." It shows the Arab world smoking a hookah, eyes closed, while the Dome of the Rock burns.
There is a huge difference in the quality of propaganda between saying that Jews are determined to destroy the mosques on the Temple Mount - and saying that Arabs are ignoring that destruction.
After all, if the entire cartoon was the left side of the cartoon, and the main point was that Jews were destroying the structure, casual readers would consciously realize that this is the message that the cartoonist is trying to convey, and they could evaluate the message on its merits. The claim that the Jews are hellbent on destroying Al Aqsa have been rampant for over a hundred years, and nothing has happened in that century, so the reader might be resistant to that message.
But when the message is that the Arab world is ignoring Israel's destruction of the site, then the reader's attention is no longer directed towards what the Jews are doing but what the Arabs are. The message that Jews are destroying Al Aqsa is almost subliminal - it must be accepted as a given before the viewer can evaluate the claim of about the foreground of the picture.
By only saying indirectly that Jews are destroying Al Aqsa, that message is that much stronger.
There is another layer here, though: the image of the Dome of...Read More |
From Ian: Jake Wallis Simons: Israel Is Proving It Is Still the Only Democracy in the Middle East You may have read that the situation in Israel is dire. People are talking of the end of democracy. Take a step back, however. These political convulsions are not the end of the world. The two groups of protesters - Netanyahu supporters have also taken to the streets - both fly seas of Israeli flags. They both sing the national anthem. Both are demanding more democracy, not less. And the demonstrations have been non-violent. It could be argued that protests in France have been less peaceful. Yes, there is reason to be concerned about the polarization these events are fostering. But what people are arguing about is the arcane matter of balancing the relationship between the executive, legislature and judiciary. The Israeli government has placed its reforms on hold. So much for dictatorship. And it is entering a period of negotiation. So much for the end of democracy. The most striking thing about all of this is the passion with which Israelis are concerned about their democracy and their country.
Biden Meddles in Israeli Democracy
Biden's comments threaten to further inflame an already divided Israeli society and come just weeks after the Washington Free Beacon reported that the State Department...Read More |
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From the extreme Leftist Jewish Currents:
REP. JAMAAL BOWMAN AND SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS are leading an effort to urge President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to investigate whether Israel is using US weapons to commit human rights abuses against Palestinians, in violation of United States law, according to a letter and e-mail sent to other members of Congress obtained by Jewish Currents. The letter was written by Bowman, while Sanders is spearheading efforts to garner support from other senators, according to Bowman's office. The letter has so far been signed by eight additional lawmakers: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Summer Lee, Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar, Betty McCollum, André Carson, and Ayanna Pressley. "At this inflection point, we ask your administration to undertake a shift in US policy in recognition of the worsening violence, further annexation of land, and denial of Palestinian rights," the lawmakers wrote. The lawmakers end the letter by calling on the Biden administration to "ensure US taxpayer funds do not support projects in illegal settlements" and to "determine whether US-origin defense articles have been used in violation of existing US laws." The letter criticizes the new Israeli government's "alarming actions" and its cabinet of "far-right, anti-Palestinian individuals and parties," asserting...Read More |
The Jordanian Waqf and Israeli authorities agreed that Muslims would not be allowed to stay overnight in the Al Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan - a ritual known as i'tikaaf - except on Friday and Saturday nights, and on the last ten days of Ramadan. Here's the Waqf's memo: When Israeli forces peacefully removed the Muslims who were in the mosque last Sunday night, there was immediate outrage among Palestinians - but when they saw this memo, their anger has been redirected towards the Waqf itself.
This is because Palestinians had been calling for Muslims to stay overnight specifically to attack Jews who visit the holy site in the mornings. (Jews are not allowed to visit in the afternoons during Ramadan, and also not during the last ten days of the month.)
Now there is a campaign to force the Waqf to change the policy and allow i'tikaaf every night. The reasons given by the activists start off claiming that it is a religious right - but invariably they end up saying that it is political. Political analyst Yasser Al-Za'trah, tweeted...Read More |
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